Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity

This 2008 Caldecott Honor Book was written and illustrated by Mo Willems. I know this book and the previous Knuffle Bunny book are both very popular in our school library. The story is one that any young child can identify with since many of them have a special item that they sleep with. I really liked the illustrations. The idea of using actual black and white photos as the backdrop for the colored characters is one that isn't often seen. The photographs were ones with a lot of details. I thought it was funny that at the end of the story both dads appear sleep deprived with more under eye bags and stubble on their chins. I had to flip back to the beginning of the book to see what he looked like at the beginning of the story to truly appreciate how kids can have a sleepless night and still have boundless energy the next day, but the parents suffer! Mo Willems also wrote the 2004 Caldecott Winner Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.

Auntie Tiger by Laurence Yep

I probably should have chosen another of his books to read and will if I have the chance to before this class is over because I have heard good things about Laurence Yep, but wouldn't necessarily believe them based on this book. This book began as a take off of Little Red Riding Hood set in China with sibling rivalry thrown in the mix. The illustrations are bright and colorful, but as mom mom goes into town for food, the girls are left at home with the instructions that "Big Sisters should take care of Little Sisters. And Little Sisters should listen to Big Sisters." When Auntie Tiger comes to the door Big Sister, doesn't want to let her in, but Little Sister is enticed by the promise of a treat. Many fairy tales are somewhat gruesome, but this one, I feel, went a little far. Little Sister gets eaten by Auntie Tiger, and Big Sister goes and hides in a tree while crying for the death of her sister. She asks for a pale of water with the promise that she will drown little baby birds for Auntie Tiger, but instead poors the water down a hollow bamboo reed and drowns Auntie Tiger, then cuts out Little Sister, now dripping in goo. Somehow when the first two little pigs got eaten up by the big bad wolf in The Three Little Pigs, it didn't seem so bad. I recommend trying another of his books before reading this one.

The Lion and the Mouse Illustrated by Jerry Pinkney

First let me say, the pictures in the story are phenomenal! I don't always agree with the Caldecott Medal winners or even Honor books, but this one I wholeheartedly think deserved the 2010 medal. The illustrations are so detailed oriented and have a myriad of different shades within the same object. I am partial to watercolors, but I have studied these pictures much longer than I have any other in recent history. No words are needed in this wordless picture book because one of these pictures is truly worth a thousand words. This is a "reshowing" of the Aesop's fable of the same name, and should be in every children's department or library. I think wordless picture books are great for pre-readers, or young readers who don't read very well. They provide a great opportunity for children to tell the story of what is happening in the illustrations. Don't get me wrong I do not think these are the only kinds of books pre-readers should have available, but do think they are a valuable part of a young person's library. I even love that this book doesn't have the title written on the cover, just a large picture of the lion's face. If you haven't seen this book, you need to check it out!

Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis

I have really enjoyed all of Christopher Paul Curtis' books, and this one was no different. Elijah of Buxton was a Newbery Honor book in 2008. Elijah was the first child born free in the Canadian settlement of Buxton. He is a likable boy who gets into some mischief, but is trying to grow up. His parents, mom especially, thinks he is a fra-gile boy because he cries often. He is a great shot at throwing stones, and catches fish by throwing a rock at their head. He would rather ride his mule, Flapjack, someplace because he travels nice and slow than one of the horses that go too fast for him and make him worried that he will fall off. He is learning to read and write, which most adults in Buxton are also learning to do, but the children are learning much faster.

There are two parts of the story that really touched me. One is when a family a runaway slaves makes it to Buxton. When they are spotted a young, small girl is sent to greet them so they will not be frightened. Then Elijah and Cooter, his friend, are sent to ring the Liberty Bell. Each time a runaway slaves makes it to the settlement the bell is rung 20 times. Everyone in Buxton comes to greet and welcome the new people with "Looky there, look at that sky! Ain't that the most beautifullest sky you ever seen? ... Looky there! Look at that land! Look at those trees! Have you ever seen anything so precious? It's the land of the free!...Today you are truly free, and you choosed the most beautifullest, most perfectest day for doing it! ... All I'm wondering, is what kept you?" p. 340-341.

The other was when Mrs. Langdon finds out that her husband died after being whipped by his owner and writes as best she can a message about his life and death to be carved into wood and hung above the door. Elijah takes what she has written and turns it into a passage that is beautifully and simply written that conveys exactly what she wanted it to.

The book has some sad events that show that life isn't perfect and things don't always go the way you want them to, but the overarching feeling is uplifting. The dialect may make this book hard for some students to read, especially for those that still rely heavily on decoding skills and are not good at figuring out words in context.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett

The book begins with an innocent flip of a pancake that doesn't land where it was supposed to, which tips of grandpa's imagination during the bedtimes story of a place called Chewandswallow where no one has to make or buy food because it comes down from the sky. The weather gets worse and worse with larger food items raining down from the sky. The people of Chewandswallow must desert their land and find a new place to live where they have to shop at grocery stores like normal people. The imagination in thinking of this story is incredible. I think this partly because I am not an imaginative person.
When the movie was made I think they used the premise of food coming down from the sky, but not much else from the original story. We did all kinds of activities with the book before we took the entire second and third grade teams from school to see the movie in 3-D, which was about 225 students. We were all excited to see the movie and were ready to see how they differed from one another. I understand that characters and plot have to be expanded upon in order to turn a picture book into a feature-length film, but did they have to rid of grandpa telling the story? The movie took on a sort of science-fiction feel as Flint turned water into food particles. He was a likable character, and everyone could relate to him wanting to have a great invention. He was also heroic in trying to blow up the machine so everyone would be safe in the town of Swallow Falls. The movie was definitely entertaining, but I would choose the book over the movie.

The Hello, Goodbye Window by Norman Juster

The Hello, Goodbye Window by Norman Juster and illustrated by Chris Raschka won the Caldecott Medal in 2006. The author really did well with the little girl's voice throughout this book about the importance of a particular window in her Nanna and Poppy's house. The window is used for all sorts of things, such as viewing what kind of day it's going to be, who is arriving at the house, what is going on in the garden, playing peek-a-boo or as a mirror, if it is late in the day. The window is this little's view into the outside world.
The illustrations are abstract enough that you would never be able to recognize any of the characters, if you met them on the street. I prefer more realistic drawings, but do recognize how some people might find them appealing. The story is a sentimental one that I enjoyed, especially the girl's thoughts about when Poppy says to the window "'Hello world, what have you got for us today?' and nobody ever answers, but he doesn't care."

Ackamarackus by Julius Lester

Okay, after I chose this book based on the description from Amazon.com and checked it out from the library I opened it and saw a bunch of text. I'm not always a big fan of picture books with pages of just text from top to bottom, but once I got started I was hooked. In Ackamarackus, Julius Lester's Sumptuously Silly Fantastically Funny Fables he shows a lot of nonsensical humor. There are individual stories included that have nothing to do with one another, other than they are all funny. The ideas are very clever, such as a bee who loses his buzz and an alligator who doesn't like the heat so he moves to Vermont. All of the stories have animals as the main characters. The author also writes as if he is talking directly to the reader sometimes.
There are little life lessons to be learned at the conclusion of each of the six stories. Here are two of them that can be found at the end of "How the Lion Became King of the Jungle":
1. Appreciate somebody for who he is instead of getting upset about who he isn't.
2. You can be a genius at anything.
One thing that breaks up the pages of text is the use of phrases written in a different colored font instead of an entire page of black ink. The illustrations are colorful with exaggerated characters. I would recommend this book be read aloud because there is a lot of opportunity for expressive reading. I think a lot of young readers would put this book back down once they saw the amount of text.

Kitten's First Full Moon

This was the Caldecott Medal Winner in 2005, which really kind of surprises me. I usually love Kevin Henkes books, and this one does not fit the mold. I love most of the characters in his books, Lily, Julius, Owen, Chrysanthemum, Wemberly, Chester, Shelia Ray, and there are probably others. They have all been great stories, many of which I have read to my students. Kitten's First Full Moon would probably not be one I would point out to students. The story is ok with kitten thinking the moon was a bowl of milk and then seeing the reflection of the moon in the pond. Seeing kitten taking a flying leap and ending up with a night time swim might bring a chuckle out of some students, but is not up to par with his other stories. The illustrations are done using maybe charcoal, which isn't a usual medium these days. I do not know if maybe this was why this book was chosen, but it's hard to believe that this was the best that was out there in 2005. I read back over this and think I sound really critical, but seriously. I was looking forward to sitting down with a good story and pictures to blog about this evening and instead I'll just have to read another book to make me feel better! :)

Hattie Big Sky

Hattie Big Sky was a 2007 Newbery Honor Book written by Kirby Larson. In the book Hattie is a 16 year old girl in 1918, who was left a Montana homestead by an uncle she never met. She was eager to have a place of her own after years of referring to herself as Hattie Here-and-There because after her parents died when she was very young she was moved from one place to another without setting down roots anywhere. This novel spans just under a year as she tries to prove up her claim and keep her 320 acres.

There are some passages that I thought were well written, but the mark of a great book for me is when I have a hard time putting it down. I never had a hard time being drawn away, although I did like the book. Hattie is determined and a hard worker. I could not put myself in her place to live alone out in the middle of nowhere, working the land, and doing all the chores myself as she did. She learns the meaning of family and how cruel people can be towards others who were born on foreign soil.

Here are a few of the passages that "spoke" to me:
"I feel as if I need to make up a new alphabet to be able to create the words that would summon up the stew of smells out here. I've learned not to take too deep a whiff when mucking out the barn, but most of the smells are good, wonderful, and hopeful, if smells can be such a thing." p. 100

After losing part of her harvest to hail here are her thoughts, "As I thanked my neighbors at the end of the day, I felt as if I was at a funeral. And in a way it was. A funeral for a dream. How could months of work be destroyed in a few minutes?" p. 241

"There should be fireworks, at least, when a dream dies. But no, this one had blown apart as easily as a dandelion gone to seed." p. 267

This book does not have a happily-ever-after ending, but fitting for the hard life that was attempted by so many who had dreams similar to Hattie's.

Henry's Freedom Box

Henry's Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad was illustrated by Kadir Nelson, who also illustrated Moses, a book I will review soon. Henry's Freedom Box was a Caldecott Honor Book in 2008. The winner in 2008 was The Invention of Hugo Cabret. As a little plug, I must say if you haven't read the winner, you should!
The illustrations in Henry's Freedom Box are fantastic and life-like. I bought Moses sight unseen because they shared the same illustrator. Henry is a slave who's wife and children are sold and taken away. He can no longer bear to stay where he is so he thinks of way to mail himself to freedom. He finds a sympathizer to help him, and off he goes, spending part of his trip upside down in the box. I can not imagine the desperation he was feeling when he thought of this idea or the courage he needed in order to carry this out. I liked that the end of the book included additional facts about Henry "Box" Brown. There are many stories about the Underground Railroad, but none are about the man who mailed himself to freedom.

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein was the 2004 Caldecott Winner. Philippe, an aerialist decides to spread a wire between the Twin Towers so he can walk across. His first intention is do this at night, but by the time he is ready, daylight has broken. Just thinking about how high he was makes me tremble, and I can't imagine laying down on the wire. He is arrested when he comes off the wire and steps onto the building. None of the police were interested in walking the wire to get him, which I completely understand. Any books including the Twin Towers have been popular, and I liked that this one involved a story that didn't include how they were brought down. I liked the way some of the pages folded out to extend the picture and show another perspective. There is not much text on any page, although there are some words that young readers may find difficult such as ledge, plummeted and secured. Many of my students last year were not that familiar with the Twin Towers because we were attacked the year they were born. This is a book worth reading in its own right, but could also be a discussion starter about what happened to them.

Olivia

Olivia was a 2001 Caldecott Honor book by Ian Falconer. Olivia is a young pig who still has to take naps and lives with her mother, father, and baby brother. I think that even adults will find her antics entertaining.The illustrations are what make this book so memorable. There is humor that young children will understand, such as when her mom shows her how to make a sand castle and she makes one depicting the Empire State Building. Shades of red, black, and white are the only colors used with the pictures. Text is used sparingly and the words are all fairly easy to read. This is a popular book in our library and now I see why.

The John Newbery Medal is awarded to the author of the most distinguished children's book each year. The books must have been first published by an American publisher in the United States during the previous year. The books can not have been published in a another country prior to the United States. The author must be an American citizen or resident in the United States. The books must be of excellent quality, and being awarded this metal guarantees that this book will remain in print forever. Books that are nominated, but do not win are given an Honor label.

The Randolph Caldecott Medal is awarded to the illustrator of the most distinguished children's book each year. The books must have been first published in the United States, not another country, in the year previous to its nomination. The illustrations in the children's book have to be original to the author and the book itself. The author must be an American citizen or resident. Books that are nominated are noted for significant achievement and will remain in print forever. Books that are nominated but do not win are given an Honor label.

These awards cover the two basic elements of children's books: content and illustrations. There is no way to say that one award is better than the other. Especially for young readers, the illustrations in a book are just as important as the text.